# Moustapha Cissé

Founder and CEO, Kera Health Platforms. TIME100 AI 2026, Leaders. His AI health insurer in Senegal runs entirely through WhatsApp and approves claims within 30 seconds; providers there usually wait 120 days to be paid. ([time.com](https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/moustapha-cisse/))

- Born: Senegal ([ifc.org](https://www.ifc.org/en/interviews/2024/healthcare-more-than-any-other-industry-is-a-business-of-partnerships), [healthdata.org](https://www.healthdata.org/about/people/moustapha-cisse))
- Education: PhD, Machine learning, Pierre and Marie Curie University, 2014; Master's, Artificial intelligence, Pierre and Marie Curie University, 2010; Mathematics and physics, Gaston Berger University ([healthdata.org](https://www.healthdata.org/about/people/moustapha-cisse), [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/in/moustapha-cisse))
- Career: Kera Health Platforms (Founder and CEO, 2023 to now); AIMS (Professor of AI; Founder and Director, AMMI, 2018 to now); Google (Head of Google AI Center, Accra, 2018–2023); Meta (Research Scientist, 2016–2018) ([financialafrik.com](https://www.financialafrik.com/en/2025/06/17/senegal-kera-health-raises-10-million-to-revolutionize-access-to-healthcare/), [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/in/moustapha-cisse), [healthdata.org](https://www.healthdata.org/about/people/moustapha-cisse), [ifc.org](https://www.ifc.org/en/interviews/2024/healthcare-more-than-any-other-industry-is-a-business-of-partnerships))
- TIME profile: https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/moustapha-cisse/
- Profile: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/most-influential-people-in-ai/moustapha-cisse

- At 19 he became very sick after being misdiagnosed, which made him curious about how healthcare fails and led him to math, physics and AI. ([ifc.org](https://www.ifc.org/en/interviews/2024/healthcare-more-than-any-other-industry-is-a-business-of-partnerships))
- In 2018 he set up and led Google's first engineering site and AI research team in Africa, in Accra, Ghana. ([ifc.org](https://www.ifc.org/en/interviews/2024/healthcare-more-than-any-other-industry-is-a-business-of-partnerships))
- Founded the African Masters of Machine Intelligence, the continent's first graduate program in AI, backed by both Facebook and Google. ([medium.com](https://medium.com/@moustaphacisse/introducing-the-african-masters-of-machine-intelligence-at-aims-9441b4346a55))
- His AI health insurer Sura approves claims in about 30 seconds; Senegalese providers usually wait 120 days to be paid. ([time.com](https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/moustapha-cisse/))
- Sura has no app and barely a website: every customer interaction runs through WhatsApp. ([time.com](https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/moustapha-cisse/))
- Wants to take Sura to the US and beyond, "because the need is the same everywhere." ([time.com](https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/moustapha-cisse/))